ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister’s Focal Person on Polio Eradication Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq assured the global community on Thursday that Pakistan is on the track to defeat polio.

Addressing the World Health Assembly in Geneva, she said the Independent Monitoring Board which worked on behalf of international donor agencies and reported on performance of different countries every six months had appreciated Pakistan’s efforts for eradication of the crippling disease in its May 19 report.

Ms Farooq said the key issue of health workers’ accessibility to children to be vaccinated in sensitive areas had been addressed through decisive action and innovative solutions besides ensuring that security strategy remained in sync with the operational strategy.

Also read: Pakistan’s anti-polio efforts praised

She said all areas in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas were now accessible to health workers and polio vaccination was in full swing there.

“In the backdrop of attacks on polio workers that have no precedent elsewhere in the world, security has received the greatest attention. With improved monitoring by the federal government, there has been a marked improvement in campaign coverage with 70 per cent reduction in polio cases and polio virus disappearing from environmental samples,” she said.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2015

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